Ken
O’Brien
Profitable corporations are supposed to pay a 35
percent federal income tax rate on their U.S. profits. But many corporations
pay far less, or nothing at all, because of the many tax loopholes and special
breaks they enjoy. A new
report by Citizens for Tax Justice documents just how successful many
Fortune 500 corporations have been at using these loopholes and special breaks
over the past five years.
Conservatives and Tea Partiers constantly bemoan “Obama’s
Socialist Welfare State” and cut unemployment benefits, food stamps, fuel
assistance, education and other programs that benefit our neediest citizens in
an effort to reduce the Federal deficit and the national debt. Simultaneously
they turn a blind eye to the true beneficiaries of government largess – the biggest
and most profitable corporations.
